Train Like a Spartan. Eat Like a Spartan. Look like a Spartan
For an updated guide on getting ripped, please visit our new blog by clicking here.
It’s no secret that diet plays a major role in dramatic body transformations. In fact, for 99% of us, it’s almost impossible to out train a bad diet. Now that we’ve begun training like Spartans, we need to start eating like Spartans. And if we can accomplish that, we’ll all watch the fat melt off, unveiling six pack abs and veins we never knew existed.
The following nutritional plan is based off of the work of Dr. John Berardi and his team at Precision Nutrition. John is one of the leading nutritional experts in the world. His company, Precision Nutrition, works with some of the best athletes in the world, as well as handful of professional sports teams. You can see more about the company here.
The diet is simple, yet EXTREMELY effective. It’s designed to minimize muscle loss and strength, while maximizing fat loss.
The Rules
- Eat every 4 hours
- Eat lean protein with every meal: fish, chicken breasts, lean ground beef, turkey breasts, egg whites
- Eat veggies with every meal, usually 2-3 servings: carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
- Cheat, and cheat as often as you like. One stipulation: cheat only within 1-3 hours after an intense workout. Earn your cheat meals.
- Eat healthy fats, as much as 40% of your diet: 50% from extra virgin oil, nuts, and avocado oil and 50% from fish oil
Your Daily Calories You’ll Need
Start with 14 calories per pound of bodyweight. Get 35% from protein, 25% from carbohydrates, and 40% from healthy fats. After 4 weeks, adjust your calories accordingly. Don’t make a dramatic adjustment, 100 or 200 calories less or more per day is sufficient.
So for example, a 200lb man would eat 2800 calories per day. The macronutrient breakdown would be 245g of protein, 175g of carbohydrates, and 124g of healthy fats. If after 4 weeks, he still isn’t happy with his fat-loss progress, we’d decrease his carbohydrate intake to 125-150g per day.
Superfoods
80% of your calories should come from the foods below.
Protein: lean red meat (93% lean), salmon, omega 3 eggs, chicken breasts
Veggies: spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower
Fats: Mixed nuts (pecans, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts), avocados, extra virgin olive oil, fish oil
Grocery List
Meals: Salmon, lean ground beef, eggs, tilapia, turkey burgers or chicken breasts, any vegetable (the wider variety of colors, the better)
Snacks: Protein shakes, non-salted nuts, beef jerky, or vegetables like carrots
That’s it. Simple, yet effective. Follow the daily caloric intake for a minimum of 2 weeks, preferably 4 weeks, and adjust it accordingly following the rules above. In 4 weeks, not only will you feel like a Spartan, you’ll start to look like a Spartan!
Side note: Of course, in an ideal world, we would get all of our nutrients from whole foods. However, kids, jobs, and everyday life makes it hard.
So, for someone like me who owns a business and has a family, I have to use supplements to hit my protein and micronutrient goals. Currently, because of their committment to quality (and they’re from the Lou), I use 1st Phorm supplements. My current supplement cabinet looks like:
- The essential stack – multivitamin, healthy greens, and fish oil.
- Phormula-1 protein for my postworkout shake.
- Level-1 protein for times when I can’t sit down and have a meal.
- Creatine Monohydrate
For an updated guide on getting ripped, please visit our new blog by clicking here.
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